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Thousands turned out late Thursday afternoon for the annual 'Gay Pride' parade through the streets of downtown Jerusalem.

Following in the footsteps of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem appeared to not only be welcoming such events, but actually encouraging them, as the municipality took the effort to hang the homosexual "rainbow" flag on the street posts traditionally used to hang the flags of visiting foreign dignitaries.

Despite the city's open embrace of the homosexual community, this year's march ended at the Knesset, where participants demonstrated against what they claimed is a lack of legislation protecting and promoting their rights and lifestyle.

The annual event is usually hotly contested by the religious communities in Jerusalem, including ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Muslims and Christians of all stripes.

And while direct confrontation with the homosexual marchers is rare, police did arrest three assailants on Thursday, including an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who hurled a stink bomb at the gay protesters.

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